First Look at the R Rated ‘Mortal Kombat’ Movie!

Mortal Kombat started life as a controversial video game that went on to spawn a massive franchise. However, many movie fans will probably be more familiar with the 1995 film adaption that carried a cult following in it’s wake. Back in the 90’s many film distribution companies were far more worried about the films reach than it’s content, and so it was that major cuts to the films script reduced the violent film into PG-13 adventure. For many years, fans of the franchise have been hoping and wishing for a proper adaption, Fatalties and all, and it seems that 2021 may just bring us that dream.

In the upcoming Mortal Kombat movie, Director Simon McQuoid promises blood, gore, and, for the first time, fatalities, in his R rated film that will bring the world of MK to life. EW offered us our very first look at the film, with a series of still, and even teased some of the films plot points, which sound really cool. The film sounds to be covering all the bases and will include many of the core MK characters.

Fan favorites Scoprion And Subzero will be making a huge impact opening the film with a bitter feud at the start of the film.

“Mortal Kombat begins with a crucial piece of lore from the original games: the blood feud between the clans of Hanzo and Bi-Han (Warrior’s Joe Taslim). The 10-minute opening sequence kicks off in feudal Japan, long before these fighters wielded supernatural abilities as Scorpion and Sub-Zero, and it ends in “a pretty nasty hand-to-hand combat” between the two…”

And many other chacracters will also starring, such as Liu Kang (Power Rangers’ Ludi Lin), Major Jackson “Jax” Briggs (Supergirl’s Mehcad Brooks), Sonya Blade (The Meg’s Jessica McNamee), Lord Raiden (Thor’s Tadanobu Asano), Kung Lao (actor and stuntman Max Huang), and Kano (Superstore’s Josh Lawson). And big bad Shang Tsung (Skyscraper’s Chin Han) will be the main antagonist. 

Fans may be sad to hear that a completely new character, Cole Young (Lewis Tan) will be the films protagonist and the film will follow him. Why this decision was made is beyond my reasoning, especially considering the many characters available in the MK world. Ironically McQuoid says of developing the reboot…

“I wanted to make sure that everyone respected the material, the lore of Mortal Kombat, the fans and the love they have for this. Everyone was clear on it,”

Well..the jury’s out on this one for now.

Rest assure the film will be a brutal and bloody experience, and one that will follow closely to the games content.

“it’s definitely not gonna get a PG-13 rating…  Out of context this quote might seem incendiary, it’s not: The rules around ratings aren’t what a lot of people think they are… It’s amount of blood, it’s amount of red, it’s interpretation of how you go about it. We had a lot of discussions about getting the balance right so there was gore and there was blood and there were fatalities. And there is gore, blood, and fatalities.”

The film is scheduled for a simultaneous release in theaters and on HBO Max this April 16th. You can check out the new stills below.

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